Search This Blog

Henry VIII's Tudor Cheeseboard

Back in 1524, when alliances between great nations were forged with Parmesan Cheese. It's true! In 1511, Henry VIII's letters and papers tell us that the pope sent Henry one hundred wheels of Parmesan cheese, and in 1529, it was also the gift of choice (along with wine and meats) of the Duke of Ferrera, who bestowed a couple of hunks of the tangy, crumbly cheese to Henry's representatives, Sir Nicholas Carew and Dr Richard Sampson while they were on the King's business in Italy.

Nowadays, this sweet, fruity paste is often eaten with cheese. We have no evidence that Henry ate the two together, but they do taste pretty incredible together so my guess is that he would have paired them at some point, in one midnight feast or another.

And so it is that the image of Henry VIII, retiring to his private apartments, kicking off his velvet slippers and calling for a late night snack of his Parmesan cheese and a chunk of mermelada is one I couldn't resist to create here.

You'll also see pictured plums and apples - both traditional English fruits, home-made bread rolls (white, of course, because Henry was wealthy and could afford it) and the pomegranate - the badge and symbol of Katherine of Aragon, his first wife.

Enjoyed this post? What other foodie situations and meals would you like to see me recreate?

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

We go back to 1539 and see what Easter weekend looked like towards the end of the reign of Henry VIII.

What does Henry VIII at Easter mean to you? Does it summon images of Henry throwing half-eaten chicken legs over his shoulder, laughing raucously and necking down a flagon of good ale?

Today, Easter is all about chocolate eggs, fluffy bunnies and hot cross buns. But it's very different to the Easter traditions celebrated by the Tudors. Then, it was a much more serious and solemn affair. Let's go back to Henry's Easter, spent at his London palace of Whitehall, in April 1539.

Henry VIII stands alongside some of the most important nobles in the realm, as he leaves his royal apartments and processes solemnly and slowly towards the richly-decorated chapel inside Whitehall Palace. The muddy water of the Thames lapping at the pale stone walls outside, Henry led the procession with George Brook, Lord Cobham, who carried the sword of state with his intense stare and wispy beard. W…

A look at Henry VIII's road to obesity in later life. It's often blamed on his diet of meats, roasted birds and fatty fish. But was it all about his meat intake? Or was something else a bigger factor?

A big deal is always made of Henry VIII's middle-aged weight gain. One of his coats of armour, made in 1540 (almost certainly just worn for show) measures 52 inches around the waist, making him obese by even today's standards (1).

But as a young king, he was famed for his athleticism at jousting, riding and tennis - and, at the age of twenty-four, was considered by an ambassador "the handsomest potentate I ever set eyes on."(2) Portraits from early in his reign support this, too, showing a focused, pleasantly-smiling and slimmer Henry.

So what happened? Prominent historians are quick to point the finger at his diet of fatty roasted meats, poultry and dairy. Phillipa Gregory, writing about Henry's psychology, blames his weight gain on his "fat-rich diet …

Reading through the recipe simply titled 'Rys' in the Fifteenth-Century Cookbook tenderly known to the world as MS 279, I discovered that Medieval people sweetened their rice and served it with almond milk and spices. Which sounded like a good idea.

Here's the text, from the cookbook, thought to have been written in around 1430: 'Take a porcyoun of Rys, and pyke hem clene, and sethe hem welle, and late hem kele; then take gode Milke of Almaundys and do there-to, and sethe and stere hem wyl; and do there-to Sugre an hony, and serve forth. ' Fifteenth-century texts take a bit of translating, but what I managed to glean from the original writing was this: 'Take a portion of rice and pick it clean. Boil well and strain. Heat and stir in almond milk and add sugar and hony. Serve forth.' What we do know, as the original author put feathered quill to, presumably almond-milk-spattered parchment, is that the nine-year old Henry VI was currently on the throne in Englan…

Written in 1467-68, which places it in the middle of the reign of King Edward IV, the book contains recipes for meats and fish, sauces and sweets. When reading it, if the language written seems a bit unfamiliar, it can help to read it out loud. Medieval people would have spoken very differently to us, but they wrote down how they spoke. You can really get an idea of the accents of the time in contemporary documents.

These crispy, moist pancakes are not quite like the pancakes we're familiar with today, but then the dish is almost at least 600 years old. The recipe states to 'serve it forth in dishes with sugar thereon' but while making them, all I could imagine was to drizzle them with honey, so I did.